Stripping and crimping apparatus

ABSTRACT

A WIRE CLAMP MOVES AHEAD OF A PAIR OF CRIMPING DIES AND TO CLAMP A WIRE END IN A NOTCH IN A SHEAR PLATE WHICH IS SUPPORTED BY COMPRESSED AIR FROM A PIPE. STRIPPING BLADES ARE THEN CLOSED ABOUT THE WIRE END AND WITHDRAWN TO STRIP THE WIRE END. THE PIPE IS THEN OPENED TO EXHAUST THROUGH A VALVE SO THAT THE SHEAR PLATE IS DRIVEN DOWN BY THE CLAMP TO LAY THE STRIPPED WIRE END IN A FERRULE ON A CRIMPING ANVIL BEFORE THE DIES AND CAM ENGAGE THE FERRULE. RISK OF THE WIRE END BEING NIPPED BETWEEN THE DIES AND THE FERRULE IS THUS AVOIDED.

June 29, 1971 1.. J. VAN DE KERKHOF STRIPPING AND CRIMPING APPARATUS 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 F'led Aug. 22, 1969 IIVVEIV'R LDEVI CU S LAMBE RTUS JOHAN NES VAN DE KERKHOF 197 1.. L. 1. VAN DE KERKHOF 3588984 STRIPPING AND CRIMPING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 22, 1969 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR LODEVICUS LAMBERTUS JOHANNES VAN DE KERKHOF June 29, 1971 L. 1... J. VAN DE KERKHQF 3583984 STRIPPING AND CRIMPING APPARA'IUS Filed Au g. 22, 1969 e SheetsSheet s INVENTOR LODEVICUS LAMBERTUS JOHANNES VAN DE KERKHOF June 29, 1971 L. L. J. VAN DE KERKHOF S'IRIPPING AND CRIMPING APPARATUS 6 Shoots-Sheet 4 Filed Aug. 22, 1969 INVENTOR LODEV ICUS LAMBERTUS JOHANNES VAN DE KERKHOF Jams: Z L. L. J. VAN DE KERKHOF STRIPPING ND CRIMPING PPRATS 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed ug. 22,- 969 INVENTOR JOHANNES VAN D KERKHOF LODEV ICUS LAMBERTU June 1971 1.. L. J. VAN DE KERKHOF 3588934 STRIPPING AND CRIMPING APPARATUS F'iled Aug. 22, 1969 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 |NVENTOR LODEVICUS LAMBERTUS JOHANNES VAN DE KERKHOF United States Patent U.S. Cl. 29-203 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF 'IIE DISCLOSURE A wire clamp moves ahead of a pair of crimping dies and to c1arnp a wire end in a notch in a shear plate which is supported by compressed air from a pipe. Stripping blades are then closed about the wire end and withdrawn to strip the wire end. The pipe is then opened to exhaust through a valve so that the shear plate is driven down by the clamp to lay the stripped wire end in a ferrule on a crimping anvil before the dies and can engage the ferrule. Risk of the wire end being nipped be tween the dies and the ferrule is thus avoided.

CROSS REFERENCE T RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S Patent application Ser. No. 661,640, filed Aug. 18, 1967, now Pat. No. 3,479,718, granted Nov, 25, 1969.

SPECIFICATION This invention relates to crimping presses and more particularly to crimpng presses for strpping insulation from an end of an insulated wire and moving the strpped end of the wire into ferrnle means and then crimping the ferrnle means onto the conductive and insulation means of the wire without darnage thereto.

In British Pat. No. 1,138,572 there has been described an apparatus for stripping theinsulation from an end portion of an insulated wire and crimpng a U-section electrical ferrule to the bared end portion. The apparatus comprises a clamping device for gripping the wire at a position back from its end, a pair of insulation-severing blades arranged to be closed about the insulation of the wire at a position between its end and the clarnping device to sever the insulation and being arranged thereafter to be moved axially of the wire end to drag the insulation therefrom, the clamping device beng arranged then to be moved so as to positon the stripped wire and in a U- section electrical ferrule disposed upon a crimping anvil, a crimping die being movable towards the anvil by a press ram to crimp the ferrule to the wire end, the clarnping device comprising a first clarnping member movable With the ram and a second clamping member mounted beside the anvil, the first clamping member being automatically releasable by a latch mechanism at the beginning of the working stroke of the ram, so that the first clamping member moves ahead of the ram towards the second clamping member te clarnp the wire between the clarnping members prior to the insulation severing operation, the second clamping mernber being depressed after the insulation has been dragged from the wire end so that the wire end is Iaid in the ferrule.

It has been found that is apparatus according to the patent mentioned above, the die engages the ferrule simultaneously with the laying of the wire in the ferrule so that strands of the electrically-conductive core of the wire, where the wire is a stranded wire as is usually the 3,588,984 Patented June 29, 1971 case and especially where the gauge of the wire is large with respect to the ferrule, may be trapped between the die and the ferrule and accordingly broken ofl. Where the ferrule has a portion for receving part of the insulation of the wire adjacent the stripped end of the wire core, this part of the insulation may be pinched between the die and the ferrule portion and thus darnaged.

According to an object of the invention, therefore, in apparatus as defined in the first paragraph of this specification, the second clamping member which is snpported dnring the insulation severing and stripping operations is released imrnediately after the stripping operation so that the second clarnping member is depressed by the first clarnping member to lay the stripped wire end in the ferrule prior to the crirnping die engaging the ferrule. The dsadvantages mentioned above are thus avoided.

Advantageously, accordng to another object the second clamping member is supported by compressed air supplied to a chamber of the second clamping member through a change-over valve whch serves to apply a blast of compressed air to c1ear the severed insulation from the apparatus when the chamber is evacuated to release the second clamping member.

According to a furthcr object, to avoid damage to the wire the first clampng mernber may have wire-gripping surfaces disposed on a rod which is slidable wthin the first clamping member and can be axially adjusted in accordance with the gauge of the wire to be clamped, the second wire-clarnping mernber having a recess for receiving the end of the rod npon which the clamping surfaces of the first wire-clamping rnember are formed.

An addtional object is that the ]ength of the wire end from whch insulation is to be stripped may be determined by the axial adjustment of a wire stop which is automatically shifted after the wire has been clamped between the clarnping members, to permit the insulationsevering blades to be moved axially of the wire end to drag the insulation therefrom.

A still additionai object is that the latch mechanism may conveniently be a self-contained pnenrnatic unit incorporated in an assembly associated with the ram.

A sti1l further object is that the insulation-stripping blades, the change-over valve, and the wire stop may be formed as a single unit which can be detached from the apparatns where it is not required to strip the insulation from the wire end, e.g. where the ferrule has means, e.g. lances, for piercing the insulation of the wire. The ram may have a plate-shaped die for crimping the ferrule portion for crimping to the insulation of the wire, whch die is adjustable by screws engaging the inclined surfaces formed on an edge of the pIate-shaped die.

Other objects and attainments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art npon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjnnction with the drawings in which there is shown and described an llustrative ernbodiment of the invention; it is to be understood, however, that this embodiment is not intended to be exhaustive nor Iimtng of the invention but is given for purposes of illustration in order that others skilled in the art may fully understand the in vention and the principles thereof and the manner of applying it in practical use so that they may modify it in various forms, each as may be best suited to the conditiens of a particular use.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference will now be made by way of exarnple to the accompanying drawings, in whch:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of apparatus, part of which is shown in broken lines, for stripping the insulation from an end of an insulated wire and crimping an electrical connector to the stripped end of the wire, the apparatus being shown prior to a cycle of operation of the apa paratus and one of the crimping dies of the apparatus being removed;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the apparatus with a ram assembly of the apparatus removed;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the lines IVIV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectonal view taken on the lnes VV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow VI of FIG. 3, but showing part of the ram assembly;

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of a detail of the ram assembly;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing details of FIG. 5;

FIGS. 9A to 9C are fragmentary plan view illustrating the operation of parts of the apparatus, and

FIG. 10 is an enlarged plan view illustrating part of a strip of electrical connectors for use with the apparatus.

The apparatus comprises a base generally referenced 2 having a connector strip feed plate 4 for supporting a strip ST (FIG. 10) of electrical plug conectors EC each having a first U-section crimping ferrule FC for crmping about the bared electric conductive core C of an insulated wire W (FIG. 9C) and a second U-section crirnping ferrule F1 for crirnping about the insulation of the wire W. The connectors EC are connected together in sde-by-side paral- 1e1 relationship by a metal carrier strip CS.

The strip ST is arranged to be located on the plate 4 by a pressure pad 5 loaded by springs 7 against the acton of which the pad 5 can be raised by a cam device 9. A press ram assembly generally referenced 6 and comprising a ram 1 is arranged to be driven by an electric motor (not shown) downwardly (as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2) through a working stroke and upwardly (as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2) through a return stroke to complete a cycle of operation in response to the actuation of a pedal switch (not shown).

The strip ST is arranged to be driven from right to left (as seen in FIG. 1) by a pivotally mounted connector strip feed finger 8 arranged to be moved through a working and a return stroke by a pneumatic piston-and-cylinder unit 10 and having a working tip 11 extending through a slot 13 in the pad 5. The feed finger 8 is biased by a spring (not shown) in an anticlockwise (seen in FIG. 1) direction of rotation.

On the ram assembly 6 are a first plate-shaped connector crimping die 12 for crirnping the ferrules F1 about the insulation of the wire W and a second plate-shaped connector crirnping die 14 for crimping the ferrules FW about the core C of the wire W, in co-operation with a crirnping anvil assembly 16. The dies 12 and 14 have crrnping recesses 12' (FIG. 1) and 14' (FIG. 7) respectively.

The die 14 is mounted in a recess in a die holder 15, as shown in FIG. 7, and has inclined surfaces 21 forming opposite sides of a triangular projection in a notch in an edge of the die 14. The surfaces 21 are engaged by screws 23 in tapped apertures in the holder 15, which are adjustable to secure the die 14 in desired axial positions with respect to the holder 15, in accordance with the gauges of the wire W and ferrule F1.

A carrier strip shear member 18 which forms one clamping member of a wire-clamping device, which is described in detail below, is slidably mounted between a fixed shear block 17 and a connector guide block 19 and has a charnber forrned by a blind hole 20 receiving a plunger 22 having a through bore 24 which communicates with a compressed air pipe 26. The shear member 18 has a wirereceiving notch 28 in its upper (as seen FIGS. 1, 5 and 8) surface, which is serrated (FIG. 3) and has a shear edge 30 provided by a slot 31, for shearing the carrier strip CS, along lines A and B (FIG. 10) to sever the leading connector of the strip ST from the carrier Stri CS When the leading connector is disposed on the anvil 16, in cooperation with shear edges of the block 17 and anvil assembly 16.

A shear member depressor 32 of the ram assembly 6 has a first passage 34 in which is mounted for vertical sliding movement a wire clamp 36 which forms the other clamping member of the wire-clamping device mentoned above and which is urged towards; the shear member 18 by a compression spring 38 (FIG. 5). The depressor 32 has a second pasage 40 extending at right angles to and intersecting the passage 34 and in which is slidably mounted a wire clamp latch member 42 loaded by a compression spring 43 and having a latching projection 44 engageable in a notch 46 in the clamp 36, as best seen in FIG. 8.

The left-hand (as seen in FIG. 5) end of the member 42 is formed as a piston 50 arranged to be driven against the acton of the spring 43 by compressed air supplied through a compressed air inlet pipe 52. As best seen in FIG. 8, the clamp 36 has a tapped axial bore 54 receiving a screw threaded clamping rocl 56 having a serrated wireclamping surface 58. A grub or set screw 60 retains the rod 56 in a desired axial position of adjustrnent in the bore 54, this position being selected in accordance with the gauge of the wire W.

As best geen in FIG. 1, insulation-stripping blades 62 are mounted on blade carriers 64 pivotally mounted at 66 on a slide 68 (FIG. 4) which is slidable against the acton of a return spring 70, leftwardly (as seen in FIG. 4) having a pedestal 71 which is screwed to the base 2, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 6. Fixed to each blade carrier 64 is a cam 72 having a cam surface 74, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, for cooperation with a cam surface 76 on one of two insulation-cutting blade actuators 78 depending from a cross-bar (not shown) of the ram assembly 6. The actuators 78 are slidable in grooves 79 (FIG. 3) in the unit 69. The blade carriers 64 are urged apart from one another by a return spring 80 (FIG. 1). The cam surfaces 76 extend rear wardly, i.e., away from the reader (as seen in FIG. 1) to a distance somewhat exceedng the lengtl1 of the core C to be stripped. When the cam surfaces 74 pass over the rear edges of the cam surfaces 76, the blade carriers 64 are forced apart by the spring 80.

On the unit 69 is a bell-crank 82 mounted to pivot about a shaft 84 (FIGS. 2 and 4) engaged by a charnfered surface (not shown) of the cross-bar from which the actuators 78 depend, to cause the slide 68 and thus the blades 62 to be driven leftwardly (as seen in FIG. 4) against the acton of the spring 70. The return travel of the slide 68 is adjustable by a screw 83 in the bellcrank 82.

A wire end stop 86 axially slidable in a bore 87 in the unit 69 is urged by a spring 88 leftwardly (as seen in FIG. 4), the left-hand end of the wire stop 86 being formed as a piston 90 drivable against the acton of the spring 88 by compressed air supplied through an inlet pipe 92, which also acts as an outlet pipe since the pistonand-cylinder unit formed by the piston 90 and bore 87 is single acting. The wire stop 86 has a portion 94 threaded in the bore 87 for adjusting the axial end positions of the wire stop 86.

As shown in FIG. 6, the cam of the ram assembly 6 has a short flat cam surface 102 and adjacent the surface 102, a recess 106. The cam 100 cooperates with a compressed air supply change-over spool valve 96, the spool (not shown) of which is pneumatically operated upon the cam surface 102 depressing an actuating ball 98 of the valve 96 to cause compressed air supplied to the valve 96 from the pipe 52 via the base 2 and an inlet pipe 99 to pass through an outlet blower pipe 101 having an outlet opening (not shown) in the vicinity of the blades 62 When in their retracted, i.e. fully leftward (as seen in FIG. 4) position. In the depressed condition of the ball 98 the pipe 26 is open to exhaust through an exhaust port 103, When the ball 98 is not depressed the compressed air from the pipe 99 passes through the pipe 26 to the hole 20.

In view of the considerable length of each connector EC, the ram assembly 6 preferably has a spring-loaded connector hold-down plate 105 (FIG. 2). The pedal switch mentioned above is connected to an electronic control circuit (not shown) the operation of which is described below.

To prepare the apparatus for operation, the pressure pad is raised with the aid of the device 9 and the strip ST is disposed on the plate 4 with the carrier strip CS and ferrules F1 and FC beneath the pad 5. The leading connector EC1 of the strip ST is placed on the anvil 16, the carrier strip CS extending through the slot 31 of the member 18 and through a corresponding slot 19a in the shear block 19, as shown in broken lines in FIG. 5. The pad 5 is then released so that the springs 7 urge the pad 5 towards the plate 4 to hold the strip ST firmly in position.

At the beginning of a cycle of operation of the apparatus with the leading connector EC1 of the strip ST positioned on the crmping anvil 16 and the parts of the apparatus disposed as shown in full lines in FIGS. 1 to 8 and 9A, the unstripped end of the wire W is laid in the notch 28 of the shear member 18, as shown in FIG. 5, so that the extremity of the wire W engages the wire stop 86, as shown in FIG. 9A, the stop 86 being in its fully advanced position under the action of compressed air supplied to bore 87 through the pipe 92 via a valve (not shown) actuated by the electronic control circuit. The pedal switch is now actuated so that the control circuit causes compressed air to be supplied through the pipe 92 and through pipes 93A to drive the wire clamp latch member 42 leftwardly (as seen in FIGS. 5 and 8) against the action of the spring 43 so that the latching projection 44 is released from the notch 46 of the clamp 36 so that the clamp 36 is advanced by the spring 38 into the broken line position of FIGS. 5 and 8 and thus into engagement with the shear member 18 so that the wire W is trapped in the notch 28 being gripped between the serrated surface of the notch 28 and the serrated surface 58 of the rod 56. Also under the action of the control circuit, air is exhausted through the pipe 92 from the bore 87 so that the wire stop 86 is retracted under the action of its spring 88 to the broken line position of FIG. 4, and a solenoid (not shown) is actuated to cause the ram assembly 6 to carry out a working and a return stroke through a ene-shot clutch (not shown).

As the rarn assembly descends through its vvorking stroke, the cam surfaces 76 of the insulation cutting blade actuators 78, which move with the ram assembly 6, engage the cam surfaces 74 of the blade carriers 64 so that the blades 62 are closed about the wire W (FIG. 9B) at a position back fr0m its end determined by the axial position of the wire stop 86 When the wire stop 86 was in its fully advanced position. The chamfered sur face of the cross-bar from which the blade actuators 78 depend now engages the bell-crank 82 so that the bellcrank 82 is swung in a clockwise (as seen in FIG. 4) sense. The slide 68 is thus moved leftwardly (as seen in FIG. 4) against the action of the spring 70 so that the closed insulation cutting blades 62 drag the portion of insulation that they have severed from the remainder of the insulation of the wire W, from the end of the wire W to bare the end of the core C of the wire W. The wire stop 86 was retracted as mentioned above, to permit this movement of the blades 62. When the cam surfaces 74 have reached the rear ends of the cam surfaces 76, the blades 62 are opened under the action of the spring 80 (FIG. 9C). The surface 102 of the cam 100 now depresses the actuating hall 98 of the valve 96 to change the valve 96 over so that air is exhausted from the hole 20 of the shear member 18 through the pipe 26 leaving the shear member 18 unsupported against the action of the spring 38 of the wire clamp 36. Compressed air is accordingly supplied to the blower pipe 101 to eject the portion of insulation dragged from the end of the wire W, from the apparatus.

The member 18 is depressed under the action of the spring 38 and of the motor driving the ram assembly 6, so that the bared end of the electrically-conductive core C of the wire W is lowered into the crimping ferrule FW of the leading connector EC1 on the anvil 16, the portion of insulation adjacent the bared end of the core C being lowered into the ferrule F1 of the connector EC1. As the ram assembly 6 approaches its bottorn dead center position, the dies 12 and 14 crimp the ferrules F1 and FC respectively, to the bared end of the wire core C and to the adjacent portion of insulation, the shear member depressor 32 further depressing the shear member 18 so that the shear edge 30 cooperates with th corresponding shear edges of the shear block 17 and anvil assembly 16 to shear the carrier strip CS along the lines A and B so that the leading connector EC1 is separated from the strip ST. The ball 98 of the valve 96 now enters the recess 106 of the cam 100 so that the valve 96 is reset so that compressed air is again sup plied through the pipe 26 into the hole 20 so that the member 18 is supported against the action of the wire clamp 36 to ensure that the wire clamp 36 is driven into the depressor 32 against the action of the spring 38 to a sufiicient extent to cause the latching projection 44 to re-engage in the notch 46 of the wire clamp 36 so that the clamp 36 is locked to the depressor 32.

Thus, as the ram assembly 6 carries out, its return stroke, the wire clamp 36 ascends with the depressor 32 so that the member 18 is forced to ascend with the wire clamp 3 6 after the surface 102 of the cam 100 has cleared the hall 98 of the switch 96. Towards the end of the return stroke of the ram assembly 6, compressed air is supplied to the piston-and-cylinder unit 10 under the action of a control valve (not shown) operated by the ram assembly 6 to advance the feed finger 8 to advance the strip ST so that the next connector EC of the strip ST is positioned on the anvil 16 in readiness for the next cycle of operation of the apparatus. The feed finger 8 is retracted during the working stroke of the ram assembly 6, the working tip 11 of the feed finger riding over the connectors of the strip ST by virtue of the spring loading of the feed finger 8. Compressed air is also supplied through the pipe 92 under the action of the control circuit, again to advance the wire stop 86 against the action of its spring '87.

Since the stripped end of the wire W is laid in the ferrules F1 and FC of the leading connector EC1 on the anvil 16 towards the beginning of the working stroke of the ram assembly 6, the danger of the walls of the crimping recess 14' 0f the die 14 driving the insulation of the wire W against the upper edges of the side walls of the ferrule F1 of the leading connector EC1 and so damaging the insulanou is avoided. Damage to the insulation is also avoided by virtue of the fact that the clamping rod 56 can be axially adjusted in the bore 54 in accordance with the diameter of the wire W. More irnportantly, however, where the core C of the wire W is multi-stranded, as will usually be the case, damage to the core C is avoided since there is no danger of the walls of the crimping recesses 12' of the die 12 driving the core C against the upper edges of the sidewalls of the ferrule FC.

If, as rnay sometirnes be the case, the apparatus is to be used with connectors (not shown) having means, e.g. lances or serrations for piercing the insulation of the wire so that the wire is not required to be stripped, the unit 29 can be dismounted from the base 2 and the apparatus used as an ordinary crirnping press without wire-stripping means.

It will, theref0re, be appreciated that the aforementioned and other desirable objects have been achieved; however, it should be emphasized that the particular embodirnent of the invention, which is shown and described herein, is intended as merely illustrative and not as restrictive of the invention.

The invention is claimed in accordance with the following:

1. Apparatus for stripping the insulation form an end portion of an insulated wire and crimping an electrical ferrule to the bared end portion, the apparatus comprising a clamping device for gripping the wire at a position back from its end, a pair of insulation-severing blades arranged to be closed about the insulation of the wire at a position between its end and the clamping device to sever the insulation and being arranged thereafter to be moved axially of the wire end to drag the insulation thereform, the clamping device being arranged then to be moved s as to position the stripped wire end in an electrical ferrule disposed upon a crrnping anvil, a crimping die being movable towards the anvil by the press rarn to crimp the ferrule to the wire end, the clamping device comprising a first clamping member movable with the ram and a second clamping member mounted beside the anvil, the first clamping member being releasable by a latch mechanism at the beginning of the working stroke of the ram so that the first clamping member moves ahead of the ram towards the second clarnping member to clamp the wire between the clarnping member being depressed after the insulation has been dragged from the wire end so that the wire end is positioned in the ferrule, the second clarnping member which is supported during the insulation-severing and stripping operations being arranged to be released immediately after the stripping operation so that the second clamping member is depressed by the first clamping member te position the stripped wire end in the ferrule prior to the crimping die engaging the ferrule.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the second clamping member is supported by compressed air supplied through a change-over valve having a first position in which pressure fluid is supplied into a charnber of the second clamping member and a second position in which compressed air is supplied to a blast pipe to eject the por tion of insulation dragged from the wire end from the apparatus and the chamber is opened to exhaust.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which the valve has an actuating member which is operated by a cam movable with the ram so that the valve remains in its first position until the stripping operation has been completed and is then dri=ven to its second position, the valve being returned to its first position prior to the termination of the workiug stroke of the ram.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the first clamping member has a bore extending in the direction of movernent of the ram, the bore containing a rod having a wire-gripping surface which cooperates with a notch in the first clamping member to grip the wire, the rod being adjustable axially of the bore in accordance With the size of the wire to be gripped.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 and further comprising a wire stop position on the opposite side of the insulation-severing blades to the clamping member, the stop being movable between a first position in which the stop is positioned between the die and the anvil and a second position in which the stop is retracted from between the die and the anvil, the stop being disposed in its first posi tion in the top dead center position of the ram and being retracted to its second position upon the wire being gripped between the clamping members, the wire stop being axially adjustable to determine the length of the wire end from which insulation is to be stripped.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the ferrule forms part of a strip of ferrules, the second clamping member having a shearing edge which severs the ferrule from the strip when the second clamping member is engaged by a depressor movable with the ram, the first clamping member being housed in a bore in the depressor which bore extends in the direction of movement of the ram, the depressor having a further bore housing a latching member having a latching projection, the latchng member being actuable by fluid under pressure supplied to the bore upon actuation of a switch for initiating a cycle of the apparatus and prior to the descent of the ram t0 release the first clamping member for movement towards the second clamping member under the action of a spring.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5 in which the insulation-stripping blades and a mechanism actuable by cams on the ram to cause the blades to be closed about the insulation of the wire and to be moved axially of the wire end to drag the insulation from the wire end, as well as the wire stop and the valve are forrned as a single unit which is detachable from the apparatus.

S. Apparatus according to claim 1 and further comprising a plate-shaped die for crimping a portion of the ferrule about a portion of insulation adjacent the stripped end of the electrically-conductive core of the wire, this die being mounted in a recess in a die bolder and being adjustable with respect to the anvil by virtue of two screws which engage opposite inclined surfaces of a triangular projection disposed in a notch in one edge of the die and extending through tapped openings in the die bolder.

9. Apparatus for stripping the insulation from an end portion of an insulated wire and crirnpng a ferrule of an electrical connector to the bared end thereof comprising a crimping area including a crimping die and an anvil positioned to perform a crirnping operation, driving means for driving the crimping die toward and away from the anvil, feed means for feeding electrical connectors and positioning ferrules thereof in the crimping area, clamping means includng a first clarnping member disposed adjacent the crimping die and a second clamping member disposed adjacent the anvil, means on the driving means for releasing the first clamping member upon movement of the crimping die by the driving means toward the anvil, means operatively connected to the first clamping member to move the first clamping member ahead of the crimping die to clamp an insulated wire between the first and second clamping members, insulation-severing means mounted adjacent the crimping area, means provided by the driving means for actuating the insulation-severing means to sever the insulation on the wire including means to move the insulation-severing means away from the crimping area thereby removng the severed insulation from the wire, and means provided by said second clamping member to permit movement of said clamping means with the stripped end of the wire clamped therein to place the stripped end of the wire into the ferrule prior to the crimping die engaging the ferrule to crimp the ferrule onto the wire.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the electrical connectors are contained as a strip and said second clarnpng member includes means to sever the leading elec trical connector from said strip during movement of said driving means while driving said crimping die toward said anvil.

11. Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein stop means is disposed adjacent said insulation-severng means to be engaged by the end portion of the wire to position the wire end portion in alignrnent with the clamping means.

12. Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein latch means is provided to latch said first clampng member in position after said crimping die has crimped the bared end of the wire to the ferrule so that said first clamping member remains in a latched position during the movernent of the crimping die away from the anvil.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,965957 12/1960 Packard 29-203 3,376,627 4/1968 Stz 29203 3479718 11/1969 Van de Kerkhof et al. 29-203 THOMAS H. EAGER, Primary Examiner *;g;;ggv. UNITD S'I AII ES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE F CORRECTIN Patent No. 3,533934 Dated JulY 14. 1971 Inventor(s) LODEVICUS LAMBERTUS JOHANNES VAN DE KERKHOF It is certified that en01: appeers in the above-dentified patent and that said Letters Patent a1e hereby corrected as shown be1ow:

Claim l, column 7, line 23, "member" should be deleted and there should be inserted in its place members prior to the insulationsevering operation, the second clamping member Signed and sealed th1s ll th day 01 December 1971.

(SEAL) Attest:

ROBERT GOTTSCHALK EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR.

Acting Commissoner of Petents Atteatng Officer 

